- Lawmakers have warned that the 2019 budget may have to wait till April after elections
- This, according to some lawmakers, is because they would be busy campaigning for the 2019 elections
Some lawmakers have said it would be impossible for the National Assembly to start and complete work on the national budget before next year’s general elections, although they promised to begin work on it as soon as possible.
Punch reports that a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriation, Senator Abdulfatai Buhari, said it might be difficult to pass the budget before the elections.
He said: “When we resume in January 16, the president of the Senate will send the budget proposal to our committee.
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“By that time the election will be getting closer and there would be discussions on the general principles of the document which could take up to two weeks. That means that we would have only two weeks to go.
“What I can guarantee is that we will conclude discussions on the general principles between the period of our resumption and the elections.”
The chairman of the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, Senator Shehu Sani, said: “By the time we resume, it would be exactly one month to the general elections. Every committee will invite the heads of agencies under their oversight responsibilities to make submissions.
“We cannot achieve that because many of us will be campaigning.
“The only thing we can achieve is to discuss the general principles of the budget.”
However, former Senate Leader, Ali Ndume, expressed confidence that the budget would be passed before the general elections.
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“We should be able to pass the budget before the elections depending on the content and the complex of the proposed fiscal document. We have done a similar thing before.
“We will rely on the cooperation of the opposition lawmakers to achieve it this time round,” he said
Meanwhile, Legit.ng earlier reported that the past Senate majority leader, Victor Ndoma-Egba, has condemned the rowdy session at the National Assembly during the presentation of the 2019 budget by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Ndoma-Egba said the incident was a display of resentfulness and a show of disrespect for age.
Speaking with journalists, in Abuja on Sunday, December 24, Ndoma-Egba, a senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River said such incident has never occurred in the country before now.
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Nigeria News 2018: Nigerians Blow Hot as President Buhari Signs 2018 Budget in June | Legit TV
Source: Legit.ng
